China, Southeast Asia Gain in Stature
As U.S. Reassesses Their Importance

By
Jennifer SaranowStaff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Nov. 19, 2001 12:01 am ET

HONG KONG -- The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have caused American policy makers to reassess their views on the strategic importance of Southeast Asia and China, analysts from two U.S.-based think tanks say.

Speaking at separate engagements in Hong Kong last week, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Michael H. Armacost, currently president of Washington-based Brookings Institution, and Os Guinness, a senior fellow at the Trinity forum in McLean, Va., voiced similar views about a shift in the U.S. perception of the region.